True Crime Killers

The Innerspace presents a double bill of 70s true crime killers at the R&D studio downtown. Both films will have Spanish subtitles, as part of our ongoing English/Spanish language exchange. Message this page if you need the address.BYOBFree pizza $5 donation requested Everyone welcome

8PM: THE BLACK PANTHER97 mins | UK | 1977Donald Sumpter is very good as Donald Nielson, the unemployed, strict disciplinarian father and husband who was also The Black Panther, a hooded post office burglar who shot and killed a number of victims during his bungled raids in the mid-70s. But he became notorious for his kidnapping of a teenage heiress for ransom, which ended in her death in a drainage inspection shaft deep underground. Unusual for a true crime movie made so soon after the events, this is factual, with a no-frills, almost docudrama style. Nielson is portrayed as a frustrated, short-tempered ex-military survivalist wannabe who craves respect. Low-key and slow moving, but chilling and effective, with an excellent minimal synth score. -Spinegrinder

10PM: DERANGED 84 mins | CANADA | 1974From the same team that made BLACK CHRISTMAS, DEATHDREAM and CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS. This is the most factual movie adaption of the Ed Gein story and it’s still the best and creepiest. PSYCHO and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE also borrowed from the Gein story. Robert Blossoms (HOME ALONE) is great as Ezra Cobb, a mother-dominated small-town rural psycho who kills women to patch up the skin on his dead mom’s corpse. Not only is this an effective horror movie with an unhealthy atmosphere you can almost smell, but it’s also a very clever black comedy with onscreen narrator. I was lucky enough to get to see a restored, uncut version in a theatre. Highly recommended.-Spinegrinder